Christmas in Summer

I've heard differing opinions of Christmas being in Summer here.  A few people (both ex-pats and Australians) have told me they're disappointed it isn't the traditional season and it doesn't feel like Christmas, but most people I've met love it and embrace it.  Christmas is an outside, summer holiday, with barbecues and trips to the beach.  Personally, I love it.  Running your errands and doing your shopping on the warmest and longest days of the year makes this time of year so much more enjoyable.

On Christmas Eve Glen, Gary, Megan and I went to the supermarket at 7am.  It was very busy, but also very organized.  Every cash register was running, there was tons of staff and the shelves were constantly being re-stocked. 

We woke up Christmas morning and did a little gift exchange with Gary, Megan and Jackson.  We spent some time in the kitchen getting dishes ready.  Being summer the food was a lot of vegetables, fresh salads and prawns, along with the traditional ham, pork and chicken and my very American contribution: brownies for dessert. 

At about noon everyone starting arriving and Glen and I made a quick run to pick up Zach, where he was spending time with Nikki's family. 

Everyone was coming to Gary and Megan's (where Glen and I are staying).  I love their front yard.  It's a big, sunny deck, closed off from the street.  The temperature was sitting at about ninety degrees, but they had an awning up to protect us from the sun and a constant breeze kept us cool.

Not long after lunch/dinner, Nikki arrived along with a few friends of Gary and Megan's.  The afternoon turned into a late night and we were still sitting outside, nice and warm in shorts and sundresses.  There was a lot of laughing.  Someone poured shots of tequila.  Then another.  Megan pulled an enormous red lamp out of her garage and plugged it in, and for some reason (probably the alcohol) I thought it was the funniest thing in the world. 

I woke up this morning (Boxing Day) feeling pretty good after a cup of coffee and a vegemite sandwich.  We're going to the beach today and having a little picnic with the paddleboards tomorrow.  Sharon and Tony will be in town until Thursday, and we'll be spending time with them. 

Since we arrived in August, I've been keeping a list of my favorite things in Australia, which I will share in a future blog.  The latest addition to my list: Christmas in Summer.

Christmas under a Frangipani Tree!

  The bar set up on Gary & Megan's deck.  Note the umbrella up above, so Zach the bartender wouldn't get too hot making our cocktails.

We stayed up pretty late and at some point, this huge red lamp came out.  It looked like a cartoon!  I still can't look at it without laughing.

Glen and I are back in the Northern Beaches.  We are staying with Gary, Megan and Jackson (Glen's brother, sister in law and 13 year old nephew) We drove about six hours from the North Coast today, arriving at about 5pm, just in time to kick off the beginning of Jackson's summer vacation.  

We told them stories from the road, and it was hard to believe we'd only been traveling for 18 days.  The beginning of the trip felt like it was years ago.  Because we showed up today happy and well rested, it was funny to recount how difficult the first days of the trip were.

When we left Sydney, we headed straight back to Port Stephens, not far from Shoal Bay, the town we fell in love with back in October.  We set up camp and paddled and spent time at the beach.  We drove out on the sand dunes to Samarai Beach, a very beautiful and secluded spot, and had a great day laying in the sun and swimming.  On the drive back, the car got completely stuck in the sand dunes. Realizing how stuck we were was upsetting.  Lucky enough, we were far enough off the beach that we didn't need to worry about the tide coming in.  We tried to dig the car out.  I put my foot on the accelerator and Glen pushed the car.  Then Glen put his foot in the accelerator and I pushed the car.  Finally, Glen looked at me and said "Oh, Jenny, we're in trouble."  We stood on top of a sand dune and called NRMA (Australian Triple A).  They said they don't come to the sand.  We called a towing company that does come to sand.  They said they'd come in an hour and a half and it would cost $450.  

Suddenly, two men appeared in a pick up truck and towed us right out. They were so friendly and nice, we thanked them profusely and drove into town, canceled the $450 tow and planned out the next leg of our trip,  to a town called Forster.  

The following night we packed up for an early departure the next day.  We glanced at our phones only to see in every Australian news outlet that there had been a shark attack on a surfer.  In Forster.  We decided to pass Forster and head farther north.  

As we drove out of Port Stephens the following morning, the 'Check Engine' light in the car came on.  We drove the car to Beuladelah, about 75 kilometres to the north and as we pulled into town, we realised that at low speeds, the car was shaking. We googled the nearest Toyota dealership which happened to be in Forster.  The car was fine at high speeds, so we drove it into Forster where the Toyota dealership was happy to take a look.  

While we waited, we ate a kilo of shrimp at a picnic table.  We walked on the beach.  Not all the beaches were open due to the shark attack. But this particular beach was open...but for obvious reasons, we were the only people on it.  It was so hot out.  We couldn't help it....we jumped in the water....really fast.  We didn't get eaten by a shark.

We were thrilled to pick up the car and even more thrilled to learn it was a simple, seventy five dollar fix.  

So we continued up north, eventually landing in the beautiful town of Crescent Head, in a campsite on the water.  We swam and paddled and walked on the beach.  We had a glass of wine and saw some big clouds building behind us.  We could see a big storm was coming, so we got some cheese and crackers ready and figured we'd have a little party in the tent.  

The wind started blowing.  I got in the tent and Glen came in too.  Suddenly, a pole broke.  Then another....the back side of the tent collapsed.  I ran into the car.  (I'm not very brave).  Glen loaded everything from the tent into the car and took the tent down but secured it to the ground.  We googled hotels in Crescent Head and found a room for $99. 

We drove into town and checked into the room.  The room was situated so it was not near the road or parking lot, so we had to run our things quite a distance, in the rain.  

Finally we were settled in.  We were wet.  All of our stuff was muddy. It was still pouring outside.  We never got to eat.  For the first time since we'd arrived in Australia, we were both completely defeated.  We talked about the move we'd made, and even questioned why we did it.  We said this may have been have a big mistake and we wondered, where do we go from here?  Not just on this road trip, but in life in general.

We barely slept and woke up early.  The day was beautiful.  We drove back to the campground.  People everywhere were re-building their campsites.  Ours was back up by 930am.  We made friends with our neighbors.  We spent the next few days swimming, paddling and surfing before continuing north to Yamba, then even farther north to the Gold Coast and then back down the coast to beautiful Nambucca Heads.

As you can probably guess, as we talked to Gary, Megan and Jackson we loved telling them the stories from the road.  The more trouble we were in, the more fun it was to talk about.  I suppose it's natural for us to question what we've done sometimes.  But at the end of the day, I wouldn't trade this for anything.

At this moment in time we probably should've been tying more ropes off, rather than taking photos in front of the storm clouds that would take the tent down about ten minutes later. 

It's about 90 degrees and being December 12, it's one of the longest days of the year.  The holiday season doesn't seem to be quite as a big a deal here as it is in the US, and I'm not sure if that's because it's summer or because Australians just aren't as into Christmas.  The other day I walked into a movie theater and Jingle Bells was playing and for a moment I thought "why are they playing Jingle Bells!?"

After six weeks on the Northern Beaches, Glen and I have spent the past two weeks camping up the coast.  Although I write this from the Gold Coast (we are at Sharon and Tony's again!) it's hard to believe we're ten hours from Sydney because we never drove more than two or three hours at a time.

Camping in Australia is a completely different experience from camping in Colorado. It's far less rustic.  Campgrounds are called caravan parks,  Caravan Parks consist of cabins, RV sites and tent sites.  We've always had water and electricity. The  campgrounds have camp kitchens, with grills, sinks and sometimes, refrigerators.  Oh, and the campground bathrooms are absolutely, positively immaculate.  The only downside is, campground bathrooms are constantly closed for cleaning.  So, not exactly roughing it (to borrow Beaver Creeks tagline) but I don't mind one bit.

The past two weeks have been filled with adventure, including four wheeling down a sand road to a secluded beach, where we got stuck in the sand on the way back.  Luckily we were pulled out by two friendly guys, who when we thanked them just replied "too easy!"  which I think may be my favourite Australian saying.

Another night, on a campground just off the beach in a town called Crescent Head, a thunderstorm storm came in with so much wind that part of our tent collapsed.  Glen took the rest of the tent down and secured it to the ground, while I helped by hiding in the car and googling hotels.  We spent the night in a hotel, and had our tent back up by 930 the next morning.

We've spent a lot of time at the beach.  I thought I had a great tan until I saw myself in a full length mirror and was shocked....I look like an over cooked turkey!  Glen surfs and I've been playing around on his surfboard a bit...not surfing, just playing on the board, with the thought that one day, I might jump up!  And of course, we've been paddling!

One of the highlights of the past two weeks was a stop in a town called Yamba, about two hours south of the Gold Coast (8 hours north of Sydney). We really fell in love with this beautiful beach town with good restaurants, yoga and a feeling of a great quality of life.

Tomorrow morning we're heading back down the coast and we'll take about five days to get back to Sydney.  We'll be staying in the Northern Beaches til the end of January and then...who knows?  I'm hoping whatever we do includes another visit back to Yamba.